In the future, as world oil supplies diminish or become more difficult to access, new types of fuels or energy storage cells such as batteries will have to be developed and integrated for use in automotive vehicles and also in the service stations of national transportation infrastructures. Though many alternative or replacement fuels are already currently under development, hydrogen fuel is presently considered by many to be the most practical. In fact, there is already a significant number of prototype hydrogen-fueled vehicles operating and in service on national roadways.
At the present time, however, a significant problem with utilizing hydrogen or any other type of alternative fuel or energy storage cell as a motivating power source onboard a vehicle is that there generally are no service stations or infrastructure to support the replenishing of such fuels or power sources. To remedy such a problem, it is projected that any transportation infrastructure developed to support the use of such alternative power sources onboard vehicles will have to do so at a pace generally in concert with the actual production of such alternative vehicles. That is, due to practical cost and inherent supply and demand matching concerns, such a pace is likely to be slow. In particular, the anticipated slow pace in developing and implementing such an alternative transportation infrastructure is likely to be reinforced by several hindering factors. Some of these factors may include, for example, the persistence of the oil industry even as it is somewhat phased out of operation (which may take many years), the high cost of the new fuel technology at low vehicle production volumes, and properly matching new vehicles' demand for such alternative fuels with service stations' capability to supply such alternative fuels. With particular regard to the last factor, a transportation infrastructure with too few alternative fuel service stations will somewhat deter persons from purchasing alternative fuel vehicles and thus hinder the demand for alternative non-fossil fuels. Also, if too few alternative fuel vehicles are purchased and operating on roadways, service station owners will then be slow to update their stations' infrastructures so as to accommodate such alternative fuel vehicles. Furthermore, in addition to these hindering factors, as new vehicle technology is developed and introduced for operating on such alternative fuels, the operating characteristics of such new vehicle technology is likely to initially vary widely before preferred vehicle standards are commonly established. This additional hindering factor thus initially works against establishing the complementary relationship that is generally necessary between infrastructure and alternative fuel type vehicles even more. For example, as new vehicle technology is initially developed and introduced for operating on such alternative fuels or power sources, there will be occasions wherein a driver of a new hydrogen-fueled car cannot find a service station along his route of travel that can replenish his car's hydrogen level. In another example, there will be occasions wherein a driver of a battery-operated car cannot find a service station that can recharge her car's battery.
The various energy storage cells onboard some alternative vehicles may particularly include batteries of the following type: nickel-cadmium type batteries, nickel/metal-hydride type batteries, silver-zinc type batteries, lead-acid type batteries, and lithium-ion type batteries. Hydrogen may be stored on alternative vehicles in either liquid or gaseous form within tanks or within various types of retention cells. Presently, there are several types of hydrogen retention materials being studied such as, for example, metal hydrides, sea salt, and also liquid carriers such as benzene, naphthalene, cyclohexane, and decalin. The advantage in utilizing such retention materials is their characteristic ability to accommodate both higher hydrogen densities and lower (i.e., safe) operating pressures while also enabling equivalent or better vehicle travel ranges that are common with more conventional vehicles that retain and operate on gasoline. The disadvantage, however, in utilizing such retention materials is the characteristically slow re-hydrogenation rate that is associated therewith. In particular, when utilizing such hydrogen retention materials, studies have shown that re-hydrogenation rates of up to 3 to 6 hours are generally necessary at safe pressures. Such re-hydrogenation rates or times are generally comparable to that of the time required to recharge a battery in a battery-operated vehicle, and such an excessive amount of charging time has historically inhibited wide introduction and use of battery-operated vehicles. In particular, when the battery of a battery-operated vehicle becomes discharged during use, the vehicle's driver must then discontinue driving the vehicle for a significant period of time while the vehicle's battery is recharged at a location with both a battery charger and space to park the vehicle (i.e., a charging site). In industry, to remedy such a problem, a driver of a battery-operated vehicle having a discharged battery typically switches vehicles by obtaining a replacement vehicle with a fully charged battery, or the driver may alternatively let the vehicle's battery recharge during off hours before driving the vehicle again on a subsequent workday. Such discontinuity in use of a battery-operated vehicle, however, is generally not practical for persons needing long—distance and/or frequent vehicle transportation.
Therefore, in view of the above, there is a present need in the art for a service station facility that is both equipped and able to replenish various motivational energy sources onboard different types of automotive vehicles in relatively short periods of time.